Big numbers are one way to appreciate Tesla’s gargantuan Nevada Gigafactory. Operating 24-hours per day in shifts, workers produce enough battery packs and drive units in a week to power 5,300 of Tesla’s Model 3 sedans.

It’s the season of merriment, joy, and often enjoying a cocktail with friends or family. However, did you ever consider how that spirit transformed from a pile of grains to liquid ambrosia? If you’re drinking a glass from Seven Troughs Distilling Company, then that libation took a uniquely Nevada journey.

The Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN) announced on November 27 that rfxcel, the most tenured provider of track and trace solutions in the market today, is relocating its corporate headquarters to Reno. The new office is expected to open its doors in December 2018.

Since the great recession, the Reno-Sparks economy has been on a roll — unemployment rates have plummeted and capital investments made by game-changing companies have surged. Mike Kazmierski, president and CEO of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, has been helping lead the charge and keep the pace since arriving in Reno in 2011.

Reno Technology Academy at Multnomah University has received unanimous grant approval from the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board in the amount of $1.1 million. The funds will be used to launch the Internet of Things (IoT) and Cybersecurity Specialist Certification training programs. Both programs will be hands-on and take place at the Kietzke Lane campus in January 2019.

In Reno, 14 percent of startups moved from another city, drawn especially by the lower cost of doing business. And, strikingly, 52 percent of entrepreneurs in Reno came from somewhere else — with cost of living and quality of life as the main reasons. It’s all in a new report from Startup Genome, a business study supported by NCET.

Gambling means many things to many people. In Las Vegas, gambling means dice or cards. For the many startups in Las Vegas and in Reno and the rest of the state, starting a company is pretty dicey as well. Tesla bet on Reno for their new battery factory in Nevada, and startups in the area bagged more than $38 million in 2016, so the desert remains a hot place to be for new companies: